Afghanistan to begin construction work on TAPI pipeline in February

The Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) said on Wednesday that Afghanistan was ready to roll out its share of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline in February.

According to the ministry officials, Afghanistan has made all the necessary arrangements in terms of security and other facilities for the implementation of the project and the areas the pipeline is expected to run through has also been finalized.

The 1,735km long pipeline has the capacity to transfer 33bn cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India through Heart, Farah, Helmand and Nimroz provinces of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is expected to receive USD 500mn in transit duties annually from the project.

Ending in the Indian town of Fazilka, the pipeline will be constructed alongside the Kandahar–Herat Highway in western Afghanistan, and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan.